In a mistake-riddled first half, the Rabbitohs gifted the Raiders possession on numerous occasions. The Raiders capitalised on the poor handling, making the home-side go to the break having not scored a point.

After a number of drop-balls from the Rabbitohs in the first ten minutes, Souths junior Reece Robinson crossed for the Raiders to open the scoring for the afternoon. Jarrod Croker’s conversion attempt from the side-line hit the upright, leaving the score at 4-0 in favour of the Raiders.

Robinson was at it again eight minutes later when he took a well-weighted Anthony Milford kick into the in-goal to score on the same flank. Croker made no mistake with his second attempt from the same spot to bring the score to 10-0.

A penalty against the Rabbitohs’ for an obstruction during their first real attacking raid of the half allowed the Raiders to get back up the other end of the field, with Dane Tilse crashing over from short range to extend the visitors’ lead to 16-0 with 12 minutes in the half remaining.

More poor ball-handling put the Rabbitohs under pressure, and things got worse for the red and greens with five minutes in the half remaining when Anthony Milford snuck over. Croker converted to make it 22-0 going into the sheds.

On the resumption, the Rabbitohs finally got on the board through Dylan Walker, who raced through a brace of Raiders defenders to open their account for the afternoon. Adam Reynolds converted 10 metres in from the touch-line to make it 22-6.

Despite the try though, the Raiders went back on the offensive again thanks to poor ball-control from the Rabbitohs. Bill Tupou seemed to finish off a sharp backline movement with a four-pointer of his own, but the winger was denied by the video referee who deemed he had dropped the ball over the line.

Some ill-discipline from the Raiders finally put the Rabbitohs back within striking distance on the back of a string of penalties. George Burgess crashed over under the sticks with Adam Reynolds converting to bring the score to 22-12 with 24 minutes remaining.

Nathan Merritt looked to score for the Rabbitohs following a kick to his wing, but an offside at the play the ball robbed the Souths Junior of the four-pointer that would have broken Benny Wearing’s Club try-scoring record.

Canberra were back on the front-foot just one set later when a Raiders bomb failed to be diffused by both teams on the 20 metre line. Greg Inglis attempted to clean up, but a flying Jack Wighton nabbed the ball before racing the remaining metres to score. Croker added the extras to make it 28-12 with 18 minutes remaining.

Croker then kicked a penalty goal with 11 minutes remaining to make it 30-12 in favour of the Raiders. Souths scored a consolation try through Chris McQueen out wide to make the final margin 30-18 in favour of Canberra.